This invention relates to an apparatus having a temperature controlled compartment within the apparatus and, in particular, is directed to a kitchen drawer apparatus that may be either heated or cooled for warming or cooling, respectively, plates, containers, food products, and the like or holding the same at a desired temperature.
Many residential kitchens are provided with conventional warming ovens in the form of a drawer that is heated to a desired temperature, usually by electrical heating elements, for various purposes, such as, warming plates before cooked food is served on the plates, warming certain food products to a desired temperature, such as bread or buns, or simply maintaining previously cooked foods at a desired warm temperature without further cooking of the food. Such warming ovens serve many of the purposes of a cooking oven, but usually are of a simpler design, less expensive, smaller and operate a much lower temperature, thereby allowing the cooking oven to be used for cooking some food while other food is being merely warmed or maintained in a warmed condition.
Often it is desirable to chill plates, such as for serving salad or a cold soup, or to maintain a food product cold, such as desserts, leaf salads, beverages or the like. While a conventional residential refrigerator may be used for such a chilling or cooling function, there may be inadequate space or shelving in a residential refrigerator to accommodate plates, bowls, and chilled food products that may be prepared for subsequent service. Further, while an extra small refrigerator may be provided in a residential kitchen for these chilling and cooling functions, conventional refrigerators employ a vapor compression/evaporation cycle requiring a compressor, a condenser and an evaporator which are slow in reducing the interior temperature and, therefore, are normally left on at all times, which is wasteful of energy. Further, heretofore conventional residential refrigerators have not been capable of selectively cooling or heating the interior of the refrigerator.
Therefore, it is a principle object of the present invention to provide a temperature controlled compartment apparatus that may be selectively operated to either heat or cool an interior compartment. Specifically, it is a more detailed object of this invention to provide such an apparatus wherein a thermoelectric heat pump is provided for selective operation either to draw heat from the interior compartment for creating a cooling compartment or to pump heat into the interior compartment for creating a warming compartment. Still another object of the present invention is to provide such an apparatus in the form of an insulated kitchen drawer through which either hot or cold air is selectively circulated and then past a thermoelectric heat pump for selectively cooling or heating the air.